Treo 700w Review 45
bart_scriv writes "Business Week has a review of Palm's Treo 700w (the first Palm device to run Windows). Aside from network performance, the reviewer was fairly disappointed. From the article: 'The best Windows Mobile device ever, but a cut below Palm's 650."
Fullpage Advertisents are always fun (Score:5, Informative)
What's next? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN! (Score:1)
I'm glad to see the sarcasm wasn't lost on you.
Supports satellite-tracking attachments? (Score:4, Insightful)
Clue: with GPS, satellites track YOU!
Re:Supports satellite-tracking attachments? (Score:2)
You see, I'm not paranoid - I know they're out to get me.
Re:Supports satellite-tracking attachments? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Supports satellite-tracking attachments? (Score:1, Informative)
This is a bit of a misstatement. With GPS, your receiver works out your distance from each satellite, the satellites tell it where they are (ephemeris), and your receiver works out from that information where you are. But the satellites do not know where you are, which is what tracking would seem to imply. Receivers are passive.
Re:Supports satellite-tracking attachments? (Score:2)
Nick
Better Together? (Score:4, Interesting)
It just may be that the dream of creating an all-in-one device isn't ready to be realized. Or maybe the dream is misplaced. Perhaps people will carry a collection of small, lightweight devices like Treos, T/Xs, and iPods, all of which are optimized for different tasks. We'll grab one from the shelf or the drawer when we leave the house based on what we plan to do that day, just as we would pick our socks or belt.
I have an iPod, a Palm TX and a bluetooth cellphone and enjoy each device for how well it does its respective task. I had thought about switching to a Treo 650 in an effort to replace the three devices I carry with me daily, but I don't think I'm ready yet. I agree with the authors of this article that there are very good MP3 players, very good organizers, and good phones, and to find them all in the same package is a bit unrealistic (at least, for now).
When the "holy grail" of mobile devices arrives, I will probably only buy one if it offers me the same high quality experience that my seperate solutions do now.
Re:Better Together? (Score:2)
Needless to say, the Treo is an excellent PDA, and it works fine as a phone. Some of
what a surprise (Score:2, Insightful)
Windows won't support the sharper image - WHATEVER (Score:4, Interesting)
OK, I am no WinMo 5.0 fanboy by any means (OK, so I used to catchy shortened form) but the statement that it won't support a higher res because Windows can't is full of CRAP. Not that I expect BW.com to get the facts right, but come on - the last thing we nerds need is one more PHB convinced of something based on bad journalism!
indows won't support the sharper image. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:indows won't support the sharper image. (Score:1)
Re:indows won't support the sharper image. (Score:1)
No, it happened. (Score:2)
CRAP? If that's not a fanboy, what is?
For whatever reason, Microsoft and Palm were unable to get together a driver for the better screen. A software limitation, of the non free kind, lead to a hardware downgrade. M$ should have done the work and given them whatever they needed to avoid that kind of embarrassment. People might star
Awesome! (Score:1, Funny)
BTW, can you install Linux on this baby?
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
I'd be willing to bet quite a lot on this reviewer never to have touched any of the later HTC models that also run Windows Mobile.
Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:4, Interesting)
Imagine a browser that switches to a "simple" mode for any page over 200k. That's absurd. Imagine a browser that takes 35-40 seconds to render some pages - while locking the device. That's Blazer.
PIE isn't exactly a great web browser, but it's sure a hell of a lot better than Blazer. And you can also choose Opera, NetFront, or Minimo on Windows Mobile - the alternatives for Palm OS are generally few and far between.
Also, the 240x240 screen size isn't a limitation of Windows Mobile; there are WM devices with 640x480 and 320x240 screens.
Having owned the Treo 650, I never understood why everyone loved it so much - my device crashed frequently (always requiring a soft-reset; WM devices sometimes "bog down" but rarely lock), had a crappy USB/power connector (the Palm design is frankly garbage - it relies on the tension of plastic clips to hold the connector together), had a quiet earpiece (though this was fixable with 3rd-party software), and had a number of interesting "quirks" that made it unusable as a video/gaming system (1px white border around the screen - all the time, practically impossible to allocate more than 2-4MB of memory).
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:3, Informative)
Also, the 240x240 screen size isn't a limitation of Windows Mobile; there are WM devices with 640x480 and 320x240 screens.
Yes, but all of Palm's hardware is set for a square(1:1) aspect ratio, and WM only supports 240x240, not the 320x320 of the PalmOS Treos
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:1)
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:2)
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:5, Informative)
The 650 is probably an 3/5 star phone, but as a pda it's very impressive. Because of the abundance of third party apps, the ease of syncing (works flawlessly with the open, and easy to program for pilot-link), and the openness of the Palm platform (relative to Windows Mobile at least), ensures that I won't ever let anyone else at my company buy a Treo 700 until the "p" version comes out.
If you need a pda, and a phone, and have to integrate the syncronization with your ERP or CRM applications, Palm or Linux phones are the only way to go. If it crashes, complain to tech support, flash newer firmware, repeat. Much easier than trying to get Microsoft to fix windows.
Some clarifications (Score:5, Informative)
Palm has provided the necessary Java runtime environment free of charge to 650 users (and $5.99 for others). Once downloaded, you can run Opera or Kmaps (an excellent Java app that downloads data from Google Local and even gets the scrolling part down well) or any other Java app compiled for Palm OS. I use both routinely on my Treo 600 and get pretty decent performance out of Opera. With a GPRS connection no less!
(While I agree that the first generation 650s froze often, those issues have been fixed with firmware updates. This doesn't excuse the initial lock-ups, but it's not a fault of Palm OS necessarily, just as 240x240 is not necessarily a fault of Windows Mobile (although the lack of 320x320 is)).
Re:Some clarifications (Score:2)
Re:Some clarifications (Score:3, Insightful)
Opera Mini, the Java version of Opera, is nowhere near as fully-featured as the Opera version for Windows Mobile, or even the Opera version for Symbian. It's certainly an option, but it's a hack at best - the in
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:1)
I'd like to expound on your comment that there is no suitable browser alternative (for the Palm OS). Opera Mini can be run through a JVM (which is an adventure in it of itself), but it doesn't take advanta
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:2)
This time, he gets a 700w. It still crashes, but at least so far it's one of the only phones (or PDA for that matter) he's had that managed to handle his huge outlook contacts and calendar without duplicating them every other week. (as expected since it's Microsoft server to Microsoft Client) But Frankly, I don't like the thing. It's not that it not a nice
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing (Score:2)
That's a major OS flaw. It's not like protected memory hasn't been around for 20 years, and available in mainstream OSes for over a decade, and available in handheld OSes for over 5 years. 3rd-party apps should not be able to crash the system on modern handhelds, cell phones, desktops, etc (very small embedded devices are another issue).
700W?!? (Score:5, Funny)
240x240 screen won't support most PocketPC apps. (Score:5, Informative)
On my Audiovox PPC-4100 PocketPC phone, I run numerous third party PocketPC applications that won't work properly on the Treo 700w. I can't live without these apps, especially when I travel.
Re:240x240 screen won't support most PocketPC apps (Score:2, Informative)
BS: The best Windows PPC is the PPC-6700 (Score:2)
Windows Mobile User Comments (Score:3, Informative)
- I had a Danger, and it was a wonderful device. They have done a terrific job of engineering for ease of use and connectivity. However, it is a closed system so you can not find the applications you might want / need. They also have a terrible sync program from Intellisync. No auto operation, full of bugs, etc.
- I looked at the Treo 700, but the keyboard is just too tiny. After the Danger it is a real step back.
- Got the XVT6700. Pretty good keyboard, EVDO, WiFi, etc.
- I've used various Windows CE devices for 5 years. Windows Mobile 5 is better, but still needs work. Not ready for one handed operation and they should definitely improve the apps for phone, today screen, etc. It is amazing how slow MS moves this OS and how slow the OEMs are to get updates out. MS really needs to get a group of users in a room and LISTEN to them. Having said that, I understand that such devices will always represent a large number of compromises between size, battery life, etc. In the end, I find it is pretty good, has great Exchange/Outlook integration, lets me work on Excel, Word docs and view presentations. I have gripes but am OK with the device.
- MS doesn't have a JVM, but there is one from IBM and it provides a MIDP2 environment. I am running Google Local Mobile using it.
- EVDO is awesome. I am actually on my laptop connected to the Internet using my 6700 as a modem. Can not tell the difference between this and most hotel "high speed" connections. On the device, I am not afraid to download 4 Mb files, because they get there quickly. I typically see 400Kbps - 600Kbps.
- These devices are NOT for everyone, but if you are a business user and travel a lot, they can be a life saver. I can now make many trips without a laptop.
I am unimpressed (Score:2)